I'll Be There
by iJewel
Summary: It was only yesterday that the recently widowed Emma Schuester saw all these familiar faces in a choir room in McKinely High. Sure, she was happy to see them; she rarely saw most of them in the past tweleve years but she can't deny how much they changed.
1. PROLOGUE

Prologue

Sam Evans put his iPhone down on the cold mahogany table.

His mouth still flung open, shocked by what he had just heard from a certain red headed guidance councilor.

Mr. Schuester. William Schuester. His high school Spanish teacher and glee club coach had just passed away at the age of forty-five

due to a tumor being discovered in his brain, a little too late.

Memories of his short but good times with his former teacher flashed through his mind.

He smiled sadly as one certain memory materialized before his green-blue eyes.

"_Sam, you must be wondering why we called you into my office." The big-eyed guidance councilor nervously said as she _

_and her fiancée waited for him to sit on the chair facing her desk. _

"_Not really." He had remembered saying, "I know it has something to do with my grades slipping."_

_Mr. Schue nodded and Miss Pillsbury's eyes quickly colored with sympathy and even a little guilt. _

_"Erm. Yes." Emma squirmed and looked at her accomplice for help._

_The glee club coach quickly intervened and said, "Sam, It's not your fault given your situation." _

_T__he blonde boy felt slightly uncomfortable as Mr. Schuester referred to his dyslexia._

"_No matter how hard I try, words keep getting jumbled up in my head." Replied the teenager, pinching the bridge of his nose, in frustration, "I just keep on messing it up."_

"_Hey, hey!" Emma said before the blonde boy could talk any further, "We're not here to judge you, Sam, we're here because we care."_

"_Exactly but its time for tough love, Mr. Evans." Mr. Schuester, with his dark eyes glinting, said adamantly, "You're going to be staying after _

_school hours with a tutor to help you study and you will get good grades or else McKinley isn't going to be understanding anymore."_

Sam sighed as he shook off the memory to quickly welcome another.

"_I want to be with you, Sam." The gorgeous girl he loved pleaded._

_To which he coldly replied, "No harm no foul." After saying something he barely remembers in Na'avi._

Sam had ruined everything.

He broke her heart and also managed to do the same with his own in the process.

xxx

The newlywed Rachel St. James (formerly Berry) was speechless for the first time in her life and that did not go unnoticed by her charming husband.

"What's wrong, Rach?" Jesse St. James asked, concern coloring his voice as he engulfed his wife in a tight embrace.

She looked up to him with big tearful brown pools.

"Tell me what's bothering you, my starlet." He said tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear, "I'm your husband in case you forgot."

"How can I ever forget?" She chuckled quietly as she remembered the fairytale wedding ceremony where she and Jesse

had exchanged vows, almost two weeks ago.

"And that makes me your shoulder to cry on." He continued as he kissed her forehead making his blushing bride turn crimson red, "Even if I'd rather die than see those eyes shedding tears."

Jesse smiled a huge love struck smile as he admired her beauty and her rosebud cheeks.

"It's Mr. Schue." She told him with eyes full of unshed tears.

"Oh." Jesse, almost telepathically, put two and two together, "I'm so sorry, baby." He whispered as he quickly embraced her.

Rachel held on to him tightly as a single tear trickled down her cheek.

xxx

"Finn." Burt Hummel popped his head through the garage door to find his stepson working on his beaten up pickup truck.

"Yeah, Burt?" Finn replied, sliding out from beneath his truck.

Carol's husband opened the car door and found himself in the driver's seat.

"Come here, son." Burt motioned to him to sit next to him in the truck, "I have something to tell you."

Finn got off his back, grabbed a towel to wipe away black car grease, and sat in the passenger seat.

"I just got off the phone with Emma Schuester." The old man said as he scratched the back of his neck, "Finn, there's no easy way to say this… Will's dead."

Finn's eyes widened in horror, "What? You mean Will as in Mr. Schue?"

"Yes." Burt sighed, "He passed away a few hours ago. It was all so sudden…and…er... It was all because of a tumor that spread quickly."

Finn, flabbergasted, did nothing but stare at the rearview mirror, trying so hard not to let the tears stream down his face.

xxx

Kurt got the call at five in the morning, New York time.

The former McKinley student groggily opened his eyes and saw that his life partner was still blissfully snoring despite the ringing cell phone. Steve was always a heavy sleeper, _the lucky one._ Kurt thought to himself as he lazily picked up the phone.

"What is it, Rachel?" Kurt hoarsely said into the phone.

"Oh, my god, Kurt!" Rachel whispered through the speaker, "I know it's late since I live in the city… I do apologize for the inconvenience, but this cannot wait."

There was an ear-slicing silence.

Kurt quickly straitened up and wrapped his fingers around the cell phone so tightly that they turned pink. His nerves started to jumble up and his stomach did cartwheels.

"Rachel, you stopped rambling. Not a good sign." Kurt softly said as he got out of bed and walked to the nearby window, "You're scaring me."

"Mr. Schuester's dead." Rachel quickly blurted out.

The phone fell from his hand and landed with a clank.

He quickly grabbed the phone again and pressed it back to his ear, "When did…" his voice trailed off.

"It happened a few hours ago." The girl replied, "No one knew that something was wrong with him...

It just happened out of the blue… Listen, Kurt, sweetie, I have to call the others."

He pressed the red button and placed the phone back on the bedside table.

"Mmmm…" Steve murmured as he rubbed his eyes, "What's wrong, Hun?"

"I just got some horrible news."


	2. Chapter 1: Funeral part 1

1: The Funeral

Mercedes slipped on her most formal black dress in an almost brainless zombie manner.

"Are you ready to go, beautiful?" Shane's voice came as such a shock to her since she all but forgot about his presence in the room… and who would blame her? She was still in shock of the news she received. She was still trying to process the unbelievable. Even after a long plane ride back to her hometown Lima, Ohio, she still couldn't believe that she was on her way to attend Mr. Schuester's funeral.

Shane, her husband of five years, put his arms around her waist as she put on a pair of big earrings.

"Mercedes." He whispered as he rested his chin on her shoulder.

"Shane." She replied, unmoving, still looking at their reflection in the mirror.

"Mercedes," Shane repeated, sighing into her ear, "I know this is a sad time for you… and I just wanted to remind you that I'm always here for you, gorgeous."

Mercedes let a tiny smile show as she turned around, still in his arms, and placed her arms around his neck, "I know that, baby boy, I don't need a reminder. I know how much you support me and that's one of the main reasons why I married you..."

Shane gave Mercedes a lazy crooked smile that made her heart race and he planted a kiss on her forehead, making her skin tingle at the touch.

xxx

"Tina, honey, stop crying." Mike looked at his wife, "I know you're sad, but give your gorgeous eyes a rest for a while."

"Yeah, mommy." Jimmy Chang, one of their twins, piped up, "You've been crying the whole plane ride here."

"And we don't like to see you cry." Timmy, the other twin, added hugging his mother.

"We need to get to the car." Mike got up, grabbed his car and hotel keys, crouched back down to meet his wife's eyes, "Baby, please." He wiped a tear with his thumb, "You need to stay strong."

"You're right." Tina replied as she got off the bed she was sitting on, "That's what Mr. Schue would want…"

"Attagirl." The Asian man said, rubbing her shoulders, "We gotta get going, Puck's waiting for us to get him."

"Uncle Puck's coming with us?" Jimmy and Timmy exclaimed at once.

"Yeah, and he can't wait to see you two again." Tina tried hard not to cry and gave her two boys a weak smile.

They both smiled back since they knew that for their mom this was a start and a long way from breaking down into tears.

xxx

Noah Puckerman gazed at his mirror. He gave a sad smile at what he saw wedged in the left corner of the mirror, an old picture of the glee club that he ripped out of his old yearbook.

He took a closer look and he saw two long rows of smiling faces. Each face, Puck would've been prepared to bet, wasn't smiling anymore and that sent a stabbing pain in his heart.

"Daddy." He heard her call, his baby girl, his princess, his daughter, his Beth.

"Princess." He turned around and stared at the gorgeous thirteen-year-old before his eyes. Her long golden locks waving down to her waist, her big hazel eyes brimmed with thick blond lashes, her rosy cheeks that match her almost ruby lips. Oh, how he loved her.

"I'm getting a bit old for that one, daddy." She rolled her eyes with a chuckle.

"Yet you still call me daddy..." Noah sighed, "Three years old or thirty three you'll always be my princess."

The doorbell let out a loud shrill, interrupting the conversation. "Ready to go, princess?" He asked as he turned his head towards the door. "Yes, dad." She replied, trying her best not to add the 'dy' at the end.

xxx

Artie walked into the gloomy looking building and into the room full of sad faces and tearful mourning.

He looked around and saw pale flowers and a closed casket in the middle of the square room.

He felt a pang of guilt as he stared at the group gathered across the room. He quickly recognized three faces, Tina, Mike and Puck, and headed towards them.

"Hey, there guys." Artie said nervously to the people he hadn't contacted for the past twelve years.

"Hey." Puck replied blankly, "I'm sorry but…do I know you?"

"Oh my gosh, Artie!" Tina exclaimed as she finally recognized the man _standing _before them.

"You… can walk now?" Mike said barely believing his eyes.

"Yeah." Artie chuckled, "I can dance too. All that new physical therapy Tina researched in High School finally worked."

Tina smiled, remembering how excited she was over what she had read online that she had to print the information and show it to Artie and Miss Pillsbury…

The group was flabbergasted yet overwhelmingly happy for their friend.

"Mommy, I'm hungry!" Jimmy and Timmy whined in synchronization and the two toddlers finally grabbed Artie's attention.

"Are those your kids?" Artie asked.

"Yeah." Mike smiled, "That's Jimmy." He pointed at the boy with the red tie, "and that's Timmy." He turned his finger to the boy with the green tie.

"Hey, there little men." Artie smiled crouching all the way down to shake hands with the two four year olds.

"Hey." They replied together in the same tone.

"They look so much alike it's scary." Puck commented as he scratched his bald Mohawk-less head.

"Yeah, how do you tell them apart?" Artie inquired as he got up.

"We color coded them." Tina giggled, " Jimmy wears red all the time and Timmy wears green."

"Mommyyyyy!" The boys squeaked in annoyance, demanding to be fed and making their parents insane.

xxx

Quinn stared at the mirror image of her at the age of thirteen.

She looked at the golden blonde hair she used to wear in a ponytail as a child, she gazed at the big hazel eyes she used to bat at her parents to get her gifts, and she smiled as she realized that she wasn't staring at a younger version of her. She was staring at her baby girl, her Beth.

"I missed you mom." Beth repeated for the second time.

"I missed you too, angel." The mother replied as the guilt wrenched her heart. Quinn lived in another state, Chicago to be exact, ever since she graduated Yale and got offered a job at a huge law firm. So she rarely saw her daughter on holidays and special occasions.

"I'm sorry…" Beth said.

"What for?" Quinn was shocked by what she heard almost forgetting she was in a funeral.

"I'm sorry for your loss." The young girl explained, "I know that you were really close to your teacher."

Quinn's heart hurt as she remembered, once again, what sad circumstances got her with her daughter.

xxx

"Damn." Santana's jaw dropped as she spotted a blonde head in the crowd.

"What?" Brittany asked in her usual clueless manner.

"Look." Santana told her partner, pointing at the object of her distraction, "There goes Sammy Evans!"

"Trouty Mouth?" Brittany piped up.

"Yes." Santana said as she gathered all her strength and dragged Brittany half way across the room.

"Trouty Mouth." She said as she poked his broad shoulders.

"Yes, Santana?" The man turned around with a crooked smile.

"Why," The Latina said as she examined him up and down, "Don't we look fine?"

"Boy, have I missed your snide comments." Sam chuckled as he engulfed both girls in a bear hug.

"Sam, Lord Tubbington sends his love!" Brittany said enthusiastically as she remembered the message her cat wanted delivered.

"I can't believe he's still alive." Sam said, wide eyed.

"Neither can I." Santana added with an eye roll.

xxx

"Steve!" Kurt hurriedly said, "We're late!"

"I'm coming, sweetheart!" The man in the bathroom replied after he put his razor down.  
"Okay, just hurry." Kurt replied as he glanced at the hallway mirror one last time and smiled in satisfaction. He made funeral wear actually look desirable. He then frowned as he remembered whose funeral he was attending.

He was so engulfed in his own thoughts that he fidgeted when Steve put his arms around his waist.

"Oh, you scared me half to death!" Kurt said with a gasp.

"Please don't say that." Steve said, his breath tickling Kurt's ear, "I can't stand the thought of the world without you in it."

"Awww." Kurt blurted out as he turned around and stared up into his husband's huge gray eyes, "You know I love you, right?"

"Yeah." Steve replied confidently, "I do."

"And?" Kurt said expectantly and received nothing but a teasing smile from the handsome gray-eyed man.

"And?" Steve parroted with a smirk.

"I… I…lo… lo." Kurt waved his arms around in a dramatic manner trying to pull the words out of Steve's mouth.

"I love you from the moon and back." The other man couldn't help but let out a loud laugh making his partner blush, "Even though you drive me nuts sometimes…"


End file.
